If you wake up in the morning, and you’re not happy with your life, then get up immediately and change it by having a proper goal setting strategy.
I firmly believe that Goal setting should be taught and applied from childhood. All parents & teachers should take this responsibility and teach children. It will help them focus on their targets and help them to achieve it.
Goals give your life direction and help you work toward something.They also help you avoid having all your efforts just be a random walk through life.
As long as you take the right approach and approach things with the right frame of mind, you will succeed.
There are three main reasons for setting goals.
- You will know what you want.
- You will know where you’re going.
- You will be able to measure your progress.
All type of goal setting strategy have these 4 basic steps
- Start with your vision
- Break your vision into goals
- Set up a schedule
- Take action now
Biggest advantage of goal setting are:
- Helps to make your tasks and objectives more clear.
- Gives you a sense of your own progress and accomplishment.
- Helps you to develop clearer expectations about your own performance.
- Provides a system for rewarding effort and accomplishment.
- Helps you to identify areas for improvement and change.
We need our goals to be SMARTER: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound, Evaluated, and Re-adjusted.
Goal setting is a continuous process that starts with careful planning of what you want to achieve in your life, and ends with achieving it after lots of hard work.
Goal achievement will require huge commitment from you. It will ask you to develop the skills necessary to actually work on your strategy and take actions to make your dreams a reality.
The most important thing you can do to achieve success is to develop a sense of urgency, like “I have to achieve it, now”, “It’s now or never” must be your mantra.
Goal setting sets priorities in life and motivates us to grow as a person both personally and professionally helps us to become a better person.
Goal setting is the foundation of success. Let’s learn how to set goals in 10 steps.
Wishful thinking is for losers; Goal Setting is for achievers like you.
10 Steps Strategies for Achieving Goals
- Define your goals clearly and write them down.
- Break the goals into short-term and long-term by setting a fixed deadline
- Write down your step-by-step plan for achieving each goal. (a draft plan for some directions. You can modify it later based on your situation)
- Start by achieving your short term goals first by doing something daily that moves you towards your goal.
- Find the resources and Develop methodology that will help you to achieve your goals.
- If needed Make your goal public so that you don’t back off later due to social pressure.
- Accept help from others and be open to suggestions. Always think positive, never doubt your “written goals”.
- Track your progress and Reward yourself every time you achieve one of your goals.
- If progress is slow, then modify strategy or Change your environment. But no matter what
- Never give up till you achieve your goals.
“Procrastination is the silent killer that prevents you from achieving your goals. “
7 Must-Do things are:
- Every morning, Break down your top 3 goals into actionable steps. These daily goals help keep you focused and on-track towards long term goals.
Anyone who is serious about reaching their goals must work on it every single day.
- Procrastination should be stopped by taking action.
- To achieve your goals, you need to become an effective manager of your time. Break 24 hours into 24 parts of 1 hour each and schedule your task accordingly.
- Always start with the biggest task. Complete it first.
“According to the Pareto Principle, 80% of the results are produced by 20% of the efforts.”
- Don’t let negative thinking stop you from achieving what you want in life. Get inside successful people’s minds by listening to their stories.
You must learn to cut out the noise and be purely focused on your work.
- Finding a mentor who can help guide you and teach you from their failures so that you avoid them.
- Track your progress every week to ensure they are working (if possible every day).
How to set goals?
Goal setting strategy is broken into 4 simple steps.
1. All goals Start with a vision, something we want to achieve.
2. That vision is Broken into small actionable goals which we,
3. Set into our short-term or long-term schedule and then,
4. Take actions based on the schedule.
We can plan in many ways, but the most important thing is to start. Once we start, we will find ways to improve and perfect ourselves.
“Your goals must be aligned with your values and beliefs, and must be time-bound.”
Why have goals anyway?
Goals drive you to progressively improve. By setting goals, you determine how to measure your growth, and give yourself the best chance at success.
With goals, you also get the benefit of accountability. If you have specific goals, you have a clear measure of whether you are meeting your objectives.
While achieving big goals takes time, you can achieve them if you don’t give in to failure.
Often, we give up and give up on our goals when we reach a certain point of failure without thinking that failures are the building blocks of success.
Importance of Goals are:
- Goal setting helps you to achieve success by providing a direction towards your dreams.
- Proper goal setting can help to motivate you to achieve your success as you take full control of your life
- Goal setting is a great way to be organized and remain on track.
- Goals help to focus your time and energy by eliminating things and people that don’t add value in our life. It helps you to focus on the things that matter the most.
- Having goals will help you to keep yourself on track of what you need to do and make necessary changes. It boosts your productivity.
- You can accomplish more when you set goals and break them down into smaller steps. Thus, your wildest dreams can also be achieved.
Just watch this awesome video. I was so inspired by this.https://youtu.be/TQMbvJNRpLE
How to achieve your goals?
To achieve your goals you must first identify them. Then you must set out steps to achieve them. Finally, you must take action.
Goals must be specific and measurable.
To accomplish any goal, a detailed plan is essential.
You must consistently act to achieve your goals, throw caution to the wind, and deal with struggle and pain.
What is SMART in goal setting?
You should have a SMART goal.
| S | Specific |
| M | Measurable |
| A | Attainable |
| R | Relevant |
| T | Time Bound |
i) Specific = You cannot have vague goals like learn photo-editing. You need to ask why you want to learn it, what is the purpose, how can it help you and so on. I am learning photo-editing so that I can improve my Featured Image and YouTube thumbnails of my 2 channels:
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_Z5pl4uZZaH64S7I95vRjw
- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4CPE9dL56jVcglM4LJNRRw
ii) Measurable = You need to measure the progress of your goals so that you can understand whether you are going in the right direction or not.
iii) Attainable = You need to have goals that you can attain. Suppose I make a goal of doing 1000 push-ups. With my present body structure and training it’s not possible to do it.
I should rather break that big task into small chunks that are manageable by me, like focusing on doing 10 push-ups each day. Then increase it by 25% every week.
| 1st week | 10 |
| 2nd week | 10 + 25% of 10 = 12.5 == 12 |
| 3rd week | 12 + 25% of 12 =15 |
| 4th week | 19 |
| 5th week | 24 |
| 12th week (3 months) | 118 |
| 23rd week (6 months) | above 1000 |
See within 6 months I can achieve 1000 push-ups. It’s incremental and something that can be attained. Having unrealistic goals will push you away from it.
iv) Relevant = Goals should be relevant to your needs. I have a goal of learning the following skills: Copywriting, Python, Affiliate Marketing, JavaScript, Digital Marketing, TensorFlow, SEO, Web Development, Graphic Designing, Animation, Photography and Video Editing.
It’s a big list, but I cannot start all at the same time and I simply don’t have that much free time.
So, I selected what I need now: SEO.
I am learning it and once I master it, I will move on to the next one which is Copywriting and after that Affiliate Marketing because as a blogger or YouTuber these are the priorities.
v) Time Bound = We must give a specific deadline to achieve our goals. This is necessary so that we can accurately check our progress and make the necessary changes.
Keep the Goals simple and easy to attain or else you will shy away and not retain
Goals can be classified as
- Short-term goals =1 week to 1 month.
- Medium term goals = 3 months to 6 months.
- Long-term goals = Above 1 year.
Long term goals vs. short term goals
You often hear the phrase “Goals are the road to success”. However, it is important to differentiate between long term goals and short term goals.
When people confuse long term goals with short term goals, they find themselves procrastinating. They find themselves thinking about how to achieve their long term goals rather than engaging with other activities that could help them reach their short term goals.
It is very important to have short term goals for the year or even just the day, but one should not forget to think about their long term goals.
Keeping track of the long term goals and short term goals will help you in planning your life. If you are worrying about the immediate issues in day-to-day life, you might miss out the important things that you have to achieve in your life.
How long does it take to achieve goals?
Achieving goals can take anywhere from a few minutes to years depending on how complex the goal is. How long a goal takes to achieve depends on the goal itself and the effort the individual puts into the goal.
While it can take years to achieve goals, you must remember that it’s usually not a linear thing, so you may not achieve your goals in the exact order you want.
If you are not making progress toward your goals, it may be because you’re trying to do too many things at once.
How often should we review goals?
I will highly recommend, if possible, review your goals every week so that you don’t lose sight of your ultimate aim in Life. Checking your goals and their progress will help you allocate your time and resources effectively and thus boost your productivity.
Why is it important to review goals?
It’s very important to review goals as they help us track our progress as well as ensure that the goals are relevant to our present circumstances.
If you don’t check in on your progress, you can lose sight of your ultimate aim which will result in disappointment, frustration and less motivation to attain it than when you first embarked on your journey.
As an example, I wanted to learn python programming for collecting data from different excel files and process them for a certain purpose. I made my goals and purchased an Udemy course to learn python. And within 1 week I was able to achieve my goal of data processing.
But I still continued, I started to like Python without realizing that learning Text-based Adventure Games or designing a contact book application that users can use to save and find contact details was not important for me at that time.
I had a blog and a youtube channel to maintain along with my day job and family responsibilities. I needed to prioritize my resources and time.
Thus, I learned the importance of reviewing Goals.
Goal setting strategy has to be personal. You are not here to convince your friends or family about the value of your goals. But that being said, it’s advisable to listen and analyze other’s opinions with an open mind.
One of my personal goals was to learn mobile photography, but after having a discussion with my wife, I finally realized it’s better to learn photo-editing(For featured image and YouTube thumbnail) than to spend that time on mobile photography, especially when I don’t plan either to teach it or use it.
That’s the value of goal setting and constant review. It helps to keep you on track to achieve maximum results.
Advantages of goal setting
It is true that you can achieve anything you set your mind to, but it is much more exciting to do something that you have been wanting to do. Goal setting helps you achieve your dreams by breaking big dreams into realistic and reasonable small actionable steps.
The main advantages of goal setting are:
1. You don’t know what you want or what you’re capable of if you’ve not set a goal.You know what you are aiming for, which means you have a purpose and a direction in life.
2.It’s a great way to motivate you to achieve your goals.It helps you to visualize your success.You have a target to strive for, which means you are motivated to work towards it.
3. It’s also an effective way to plan your day and weeks ahead so that you can judiciously utilize your time and resources.You have a standard against which you can measure your success.
4. It makes you accountable for your goals and thus pushes you to achieve them.You will feel a sense of satisfaction when you reach your goal.
Goal-setting is an amazing tool to quickly get you on the right track. It provides a focal point. It gives you something to shoot for. It gives you a goal you can track towards. It can help you become successful.
Disadvantages of goal setting.
Goal setting is an important aspect in life, as it pushes you to aim higher. However, it is important to note that goal setting can have its downsides.
The disadvantages of goal setting include not being able to focus on the present, constantly being distracted, and needing to live and breathe a goal in order to achieve it.
Here are some disadvantages of goal setting:
1. Setting a goal gives you direction. But it doesn’t give you the road map for getting there.
2.You have to create your own road map or chart your own course. That’s a lot of work on your plate.
3. Ineffective goal setting doesn’t work. However, setting a goal and achieving it at the same time is not easy. It takes years of experience and after that, you’re still prone to mistakes.
4.To do it right, you must know what you’re doing. But, if you knew it, why would you need goal setting?
5. It can be frustrating and demotivating if you don’t achieve your goals.
6.Your goals should be challenging but also realistic which is tough to plan and execute. So, we jump from one goal to another as soon as we face a block or failure.
7. Goals can make you feel overwhelmed and can be intimidating and not worth pursuing.
For goal setting to work, you need to set very specific goals and make sure they are measurable. It should work like this: you take a goal, you set a deadline, you do everything you can to achieve that goal, and you set a new goal.
Final Thoughts on Goal Setting Strategy:
Goal setting is the first step to achieve everything. In this article, you have learned about the 10 steps to better goal setting.
Some people get their success by achieving their daily “to do” list while others get their results from having a “vision” and “mission”. They want to achieve a dream. They want popularity and all their actions drive them towards that.
The bigger the goal, the better you need to be able to break it down into smaller, manageable steps so you can achieve it.
Finally, you need to put a time frame on your goals. If you do not have a time constraint, it will be easy to procrastinate.
Goal setting is one of the most important elements in achieving success. It is the key to taking your talents and putting them to work for you.
The most important thing in planning a goal setting strategy is goals must be crystal clear to you.
One of the most common reasons why people fail to achieve goals in their life is because they don’t make their goals time bounded.The main principle of goal setting is that an uncompleted task must have a time limit.
I will recommend that you set goals that match your current skills and abilities, as well as the time you have available to devote to their achievement. Apply 80/20 Principle to achieve maximum result.
The mistake people make is that they think that their goals are “final”. The most important thing is to be persistent, which is often better than being determined
Setting goals makes us work harder to achieve them. I’ll try to keep this post updated as I come across more ideas and strategies. If you have any recommendations, kindly ping me in any of the social media links given below.
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